Trumaine Johnson wants to stay with Rams but knows 'it's a business'

Few teams, if any, were more active last offseason than the Rams. They made a bunch of notable moves in free agency and by way of trades, bringing in eight new starters last year alone.

While they won’t be nearly as aggressive when free agency begins next month, they do have their own business to take care of. Six starters are set to have their contracts expire in March, most notably Trumaine Johnson.

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After playing the past two years on the franchise tag, Johnson will undoubtedly look for a long-term deal from either the Rams or another team. He hopes it’s Los Angeles that comes calling and would love to stay with the team that drafted him nearly six years ago, but he understands the NFL is a business.

“Of course I want to be around,” Johnson told the L.A. Times. “But at the same time it’s a business. So I don’t know what’s going on. Hopefully we get talkin’ but we’ll see.”

Johnson was the highest-paid cornerback in the league the last two years, earning north of $30 million in that span. The Rams were reluctant to give him an extension last season because of the changes they underwent on defense – namely with Wade Phillips taking over – but after a decent season in 2017, the coaching staff knows what it’s going to get from the big cornerback.

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Will that make the front office more willing to give him a long-term deal? Or will the Rams still be hesitant to give him $55-plus million for the next five years or so? That’s the biggest question right now.

There’s no doubt at least one team will be willing to give Johnson that, and it could wind up being L.A.’s division-rival 49ers, who still have more than $74 million in cap space after signing Jimmy Garoppolo to a $137.5 million contract. The Browns and Jets will also come calling, presumably, who have nearly double the cap space as the Rams.

Regardless of who signs Johnson, he’s going to be a very rich man for several years to come. It’s just a matter of whether the Rams are willing to pay him like a shutdown cornerback, even if he hasn’t performed like one the past two years.

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